Flatiron stand



Oct. 6, 1942.

F f E. WOLCOTT FLATIRON STAND Filed Oct. 17,1940

mmvron RHNK E. Wozcorr.

vBY

Patented Get. 6, 1942 FLATIRON STAND Frank E. Wolcott, West Hartford, Conn., assignor to The Silex Company, Hartford, Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Application October 17, 1940, Serial No. 361,556

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in flatiron stands and more particularly to such stands as shown and described in my co-pending application Serial No. 341,909, filed June 22, 1940.

It has been found highly desirable to have such stands as low as possible in order that the flatiron may slide easily onto the stand without disturbing the position of the stand on the surface of the ironing board upon which it is usually supported, Due to the proximity of the iron to the said surface, when supported on the stand, there has been found a tendency for an excessive amount of heat to be transferred to the surface of the ironing board which, when certain types of irons are used, may cause the cover on the ironing board to scorch or burn.

The object of this invention, therefore, is to provide novel means for a flatiron stand, such as described in the above mentioned co-pending application, whereby the transfer of heat from the iron to the surface of the ironing board is reduced to a degree well below the temperature at which said surface will burn and without requiring that the height of the stand, above the surface of the ironing board, be greater than will permit easy sliding of the iron onto said stand.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for preventing direct radiation of heat from the bottom of a hot flatiron mounted on a stand to the surface on which the said stand and iron are supported.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such a stand having parabolic means adapted to deflect the heat from the iron in such a manner as to prevent said rays from traveling downwardly, through the stand, and onto the surface of the ironing board and, more particularly, to reflect the said rays back in the direction of the iron and thus aid in retaining the heat in the iron; it having been found that, in the case of thermally controlled automatic irons, this will materially reduce the amount of electric current consumed in keeping the iron at a selected temperature while on the stand.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will be more clearly understood from the following description and from the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan elevational view of a stand embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is an elevational side view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a side view thereof, in central vertical section, showing my improved stand with a flatiron supported thereon.

Fig. 4 is a view in central vertical section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view, in central vertical section, of a supporting foot for said stand.

As illustrated in the drawing, my improved stand comprises a plate 5 having an upright flange 5 extending along the sides and rear of said plate for strengthening the same and confining a flatiron thereon. The said plate is formed to provide an upwardly inclined run-way portion '1 and a downwardly inclined iron supporting portion 8.

The forward end of the run-way portion is provided with a projecting point 9 which is adapted to rest upon a supporting surface, indicated by the dotted line It), to support the forward end of the said rest. The supporting feet II, which are preferably constructed with cooling fins [2, are provided at the rear of the stand to support the same upon the surface Ii] and spaced therefrom at a suitable height. The said point 9 and the feet It providing three point bearing for supporting the stand upon the surface in such a manner that the said point will be imbedded in the covering of an ironing board and thereby facilitate sliding of the iron up on the run-way without requiring lifting of said iron.

The plate 5 is bent upwardly in the central portion thereof to provide a high point, as at l3, from which the supporting portion 8 of said plate is inclined downwardly towards the rear of the stand.

This provides for an iron that is moved onto said stand to slide rearwardly thereof, by gravity, into engagement with the flange 6 and thereby retain the said iron in the position shown in Fig. 3. In this position, the center of gravity of the iron is located rearwardly of the high point 13; thus permitting tipping, of the rear portion of the iron, downwardly upon the supporting portion 8, and the front portion of the iron upwardly to space it from the run-way I.

This feature of spacing the front portion of the iron from the run-way 1 provides a particular advantage when my improved stand is used in connection with steaming irons from which steam is ejected downwardly from the forward portion of the bottom of the iron; my improved stand positioning the iron in such a manner as to prevent obstruction of the flow of steam while the iron is supported thereon.

In order to facilitate the sliding of the iron upon the stand, I provide a series of rollers It which are rotatably mounted by means of pins IS in the ears l6 that project downwardly from the plate 5; the said rollers extending above the surface of the plate so as to support the iron in spaced relation thereto and also aid the same in sliding rearwardly upon the supporting portion 8 and against the retaining flange 6 at the rear of the stand. The uppermost roller l4a is preferably made of sufficient length to prevent such scratching of the bottom surface of the irons as would be caused by a plurality of rollers and also to securely retain the said iron in a vertical position upon the stand.

The rear portion of the stand is provided with a parabolic depression I! which has a roller l8 mounted therein in position to support the iron IS on said stand and directly above the said depression so that the surface of said parabolic recess will tend to reflect the heat rays, radiating downwardly from the bottom of the iron, back toward said iron and thereby interrupt the downward travel of heat to the surfac [0, thus materially reducing the amount of heat transferred to the said surface and preventing scorching or burning of the material thereon. This, also serves to return an appreciable amount of heat back to the iron and thus reduce the amount of energy required to retain the said iron at a desired temperature.

The rear portion of the upstanding flange 6 is provided with a projection 29 which serves to guide the iron into position upon the stand and also prevent the said iron from being moved backwardly over and past the said flange.

As illustrated in Fig. 5, the feet Il may be secured to depressions Ed in the plate 5, by means of rivets 22 which extend through spacers 23 that position a plurality of the washers to form the radiating fins l2 around said rivet so as to substantially dissipate heat that would otherwise travel downwardly to said feet and tend to heat the same to an objectionable degree.

The bottom of the foot 9 is provided with a recess 24 in which is secured a disc I 9, of a suitable resilient material such as rubber, by means of said rivet and in such a manner as to provide a, flange 25 on said disc which will underlie the foot H and grip the supporting surface H] to thereby prevent slipping of the stand upon said surface.

I claim:

1. In a stand of the character described, the combination of a plate having an upwardly indining run-way portion, a flatiron supporting portion leading downwardly from said run-way portion, a plurality of rollers on the surface of said run-way for permitting movement of a flatiron thereupon; and parabolic means on said downwardly leading portion for reflecting heat rays from said fiatiron.

2. A stand comprising a plate adapted to support a heated flatiron on a surface on which said stand rests, a parabolic depression in said plate for reflecting heat rays from said fiatiron, and means including a roller supported on the surface of said depression for movably supporting said flatiron in spaced relation to said plate and reflecting surface.

3. In a stand of the character described, the combination of a plate havin an upwardly inclined run-way portion, a fiatiron supporting portion leading from said run-Way portion, a plurality of rollers on the surface of said run-way portion for permitting movement of a fiatiron thereupon, and parabolic means on said supporting portion for reflecting heat rays from said flatiron.

FRANK E. WOLCOTT. 

